“GMA until 2010? No way!” -Rep. Beltran vows to oppose any move within Congress to legitimize “kapit-tuko” proposal, says Arroyo’s stay will have no positive bearing on the masses and will only bring upon more hardship and oppression

“A corrupt, fascist, and fake President until 2010? No way!” Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran said, Beltran reacting to reports of “win-win deal” reached at a preliminary meeting between Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Fidel V. Ramos Wednesday night, hinting at a concession to GMA’s stay as President until 2010 but with “clipped powers” under a proposed parliamentary system through Charter Change.

The veteran labor leader said that “FVR and GMA can go overtime into negotiating power-sharing combo schemes over expensive liquor in their Forbes mansions, but these will in no way be of benefit to the hungry and disenfranchised masses they claim to represent. These schemes will have no positive bearing at all on the lives of millions of Filipino workers, peasants, urban poor, and youth, who have all suffered the brunt of the effects of their power plays and policy flaws.”

Beltran vowed to “staunchly oppose any maneuvers within Congress to support and legitimize GMA’s illegal hold over the Palace until 2010”. “All the talk of nominal or lessened powers of the President under the proposed parliamentary systems is baloney since more or less the same configuration of traditional politicians will be the ones lording it over such “new” forms of government,” he said.

“GMA and FVR are supposedly squabbling over issues such as the 2007 elections and GMA’s stay as President, when in fact, they are both rabid and die-hard proponents of changing the Charter to please their big bosses in the U.S., the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank—their main pillars of support. We should not allow such people to tinker with the Constitution, as if it were their personal playgrounds for the exercise of power,” Beltran said.

“It’s obvious that Madam Arroyo no longer acts as if she were the President of the Philippines, beholden to no one but the interests of the Filipino people,” Beltran observed, “She doesn’t give a hoot whether overwhelming survey results show that more than half of the population want her out from the Palace immediately. She doesn’t show any tinge of shame or accountability even as the country has last year reached atrocious and record-breaking levels of hunger, power rate hikes, labor unrest, human rights violations, environmental disasters, and the like. She only heeds what Ramos, Mike (Arroyo), and her allies in the country’s influential institutions want.” “GMA until 2010 will only bring upon more hardship and turmoil among the masses,” Beltran concluded. ###